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CopyrifiDt, i$96, 

By 

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PRESS OF 
THE PETER PAUL BOOK 
BUFFALO, N. Y. 



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KORESOS, a priest of Diontjsos. 

EURUPULOS, heir to the throne of Kaludon and brother 

to KALLIRRHOE. 
CHOROS of priests. 
KALLIRRHOE^ beloved of Koresos. 
AGLAIA^ attendant to KALLIRRHOE^ and beloved of 

EURUPULOS. 
MESSENGER from the temple. 
Attendants. 

SCENE; KALUDON. 
Time: The Regency of MELANIOS. 



Kdllirrboe 



KORESOS 

O Diontisos, here before thine altar 

After no ceaseless vigil of vain prayer 

But scarce with wrath of lips grown cold ere thou 

Didst hear my cry, I stand with offering 

Stainless and pure and holy hands of thanks. 

Thy pestilence hath spread from wall to wall, 

Swept men and mothers, virgins and the bud 

Of strength to everlasting shade beyond 

The voice of love, whose unavailing eyes 

Yearn from the loveless earth toward drearer Hades* 

Still how her proud eyes keep their sullen level I 

Who heard her sigh when her loved sire lay low 

In death ? "While yet above his treasured urn 

She sorrowed, came not one to whisper woe 

And said her mother, too, decaying craved 

Becoming burial ? The head of her 

Must wear this curse of partings populous I 

For thou herein hast honored me thy priest. 

Since at my supplication when she spumed 

Me most and held her arrogance bolt-bright 

Above my fettered soul, my rage outbrake 

My bonds and there I vowed my remnant life 

That she should feel the flame wherewith she blasted 

My hope, my fair desire, and all sweet joy 

Among staid precincts of mine adoration* 



6 H^ilfrrftoc 

Heret tiie% Ltiaios^ be thou paid: this stain 

Of slaughtered goats with sacred ivy crowned 

And dearer tendrils of the sunny vine ; — 

(Yet grant me strength to look beyond her eyes) — 

Thus have I done; but thou, attendant, speak 

Upon the advent of Kallirrhoe. 

{Exit K0RES08. 

Enter CHORDS 

Strophe A 

Hence we passed with step of pain: 
For the rude voice of the pest, 

Moanings of dying, 

Oaths of defying, 

Sobs and low sighing 
Gave no rest. 
Through the long nights thick -with rain, 

The sacred wind. 

The brass bright-twined 
Leafy beckoned in behest. 

Strophe B 
To the forest we came : 
^Dim Dodona, give us peace? 

Hear us, Zeus, oh grant us grace.*' 
Looked we then upon each face 
Of the warders of release. 
Grim-eyed stare of each dame, — 
Their silvered hair 
By the silver moon 



HallirrDoe 

Seemed graceless^ bare 
Of our anxious boon. 

Strophe C 
''Blood the angered god demands. 

The princeliest fair that head : 

Else eqwal the life ye shed* 
Lead the victim to his hands 

Whom to avenge in holywise 

Guilty the guiltless dies* 
Speak no word but bind with bands 

Brow of the sacrifice.*' 

Antistrophe A 

Hither came we in dismay 
"With more death to death of grief. 
** Give us his blessing I ** 
Round us pale pressing 
Cried they confessing 
Hope's belief. 
Silently we went our way 
To greet our priest, 
Ere they had ceased 
Questioning the fatal leaf. 

Antistrophe B 
Him we found low-bowed. 
''Hath Dodona given peace, 

Heard our prayer and granted grace ? ** 
Yet we guarded speech a space, 
Fearing woe in heaven's release. 



KallirrUoe 



Tatight, his eyes gathered cloud : 
He raised his hands 

And cried ** 'Tis she 
The god demands — 

Kallirrhoel^' 

Antistrophe C 
Now the dawn hath brought a mom 
Most happy or most accursed, — 
In ocean of woe immersed 
Came and paceth toward its bourn 
Tear-sad, if she can find 
None of such kindly mind 
Choosing death that she may scorn 
of the baleful wind. 



Enter EURUPULOS 
Hail, friend I Tell me, is Koresos within ? 

CHORDS 
Truly thy haste of word imports strange news. 

EURUPULOS 
News that were better old to please that priest. 

CHOROS 
Thy lightness is unworthy thee and him 
And thus of Dionusos whom he serves. 

EURUPULOS 
A fit pfirase hast thou found herein for him I 



KallirrDoe 



CHOROS 

What phi*ase ? Speak, yotrth I What meanest thou in this ? 

EURUPULOS 
What meaning lieth here I treasure dose 
For Koresos, not for his doting slaves I 

CHOROS 
Slaves ? Doting slaves ? Now be thou ware, and heed^ 
O youth, lest the high princely stock whence thou 
Hast sprung, be laid in low^liness and shame 
By this unseemliness, — strange blasphemy 
That green years may insult the fruit of age, 
Conservers of the past not promisers 
Of laden ripeness from most dubious bud* 
But the soft fall of sacred foot I hear. 

KORESOS 
What loud impatience of untutored years 
Begins this fatal mom unhallowed strife ? 

CHOROS 
Behold the prince, ill master of his tongue. 

EURUPULOS 
Had I been more a master I had left 
Thee less a maker of such calm discourse; 
But now my words were weak before my cause 
And to just Koresos I turn my thought 
Engag^ing reminiscence of the woe 
Which spreads this day destruction on my life. 



10 H^llirrftoe 

KORESOS 
Thott art most mcrciftil : a noble race 
Bespeaks this resolation to depose 
Thy blood for thy rude-fated sister : I 
Commend thy strength and dedicate thy love 
For her among the gifts by far most grateful 
To Diontisos. 

EURUPULOS 

Speed of lofty wish 
Aye marks the priest anticipating fact, 
Stirely to me her life is dear ; more dear 
Forsooth, than now to him w^ho whispered menace 
No longer since than in the month of flowers 
"When to her bosom alien to his vows 
He hissed tmtimely end. Methinks his name 
h not unknown to thce^ O Koresos. 

KORESOS 
Ettrtjpulos, ask me no idle question. 

CHOROS 
Heed him, Eurupulos, I pray thee, heed I 
Lest fate befall more keen than angry threat. 

EURUPULOS 
Here, then, before you both I bare my heart. 
Know thou, O Koresos, that thou hast proved 
Thyself a practiced archer in the doles 
Of death : for I, a prince, before thy servants 
Humble myself to shame thee what thou art. 



Rallirrftoe n 

Tears now avail me not, for she most dear 

Of all my kin, my sister, searching long 

Hath found a life to answer for her own 

Demanded, as thou sayst, by Dionusos. 

And her she found is of all women crowned 

The utmost wonder of our realm^s extent. 

The high, fierce fire my heart supports and feeds 

With proudest blood : and when I might attain. 

Starts this decree, a cloud across my hope. 

How have they sinned, my sister or her mate ? 

Tell me, just Koresos, and I will pause* 

More still than fate, more ruthless, too, thou standesti 

Hear me disclose thee to thyself, a dread 

And fearful curse to thy most holy office 

And yet more awful to this land of thine I 

CHORDS 
Stay, youth, thy rage : see how his hate he lowers I 

KORESOS 

Wilt thou declare this fevered love, yet live ? 

No oracle forbids the sacrifice 

Of thee for thy loved sister or tliat wonder 

Of thy dominion. Lift thy heart to deeds 

And be not thou content, O puissant prince. 

To bruit devotion in the ears of men. 

And, when thou mightst earn endless honor, fail. 

CHOROS 

O youth, reflect upon his words, and win. 



|[2 H^llirrDoe 

EURUPULOS 
Thou knowest well my duty's debt to men. 
Exalted in the hearts of Kaludon 
My father held his throne and not a breath 
Of abject rumor ever soiled his rule. 
Thumenides is dead and with him died 
My queenly mother. I am left, sole remnant — 
After Melanios, our childless regent — 
Of their torn fortune; were it right that I, 
Sole son to stead my house, beget fair offspring, 
And hold this power where it stood of yore, — 
Should leave my line and issueless, unloved 
Of gods or men, because I hear no voice 
Of destiny, die for Dodona's cry? 
Not that I love my life in what I am 
But what I see unripened if I die. 
Prevents the sacrifice for those I love. 
Hear mine appeal, for yonder in the distance 
Methinks they move, calmly and sadly dear. 
Save them, almighty Koresos, oh save I 

CHOROS 

Strophe A 

Heavy that joy in whose heart 
Sorrow^ must pay for its life : 
Who gave the one 
Its light and sun ? 
And who cast the gloom 
On the other's bloom ? 



RalllrrDoe js 

Surely the gods were at strife 
Thus to perplex man with art. 

Strophe B 
What is length of days, or strength, or praise ? 

They pass like the fragrance of flowers : 
For a time we charm away alarm 
Yet bend to the merciless powers 
Of death, whose breath 
Blasts as it sweeps with hurricane harm. 

Antistrophe A 

Tears fill her eyes as she nears 
Solemnly proud yet demure : 
Who knows her thought ? 
Why thus she sought 
Chill death and despair 
For a friend to bear ? 
Noble that friend and sure, 
Tried and devoid of low fears I 

Antistrophe B 
Since she loved her life, what was her strife — 

The friend who in utter surrender 
Robs herself of the light, of love's dear sight ? 
May Zeus and his mercy attend her, 
In peace release 
Breath from the fairness she flings to the night. 

{Enter KALLIRRHOE and AGLAIA.) 



H Hallirrftoe 

KORESOS 
Hail! maiden^ happy in tliy faithftd friends. 

KALLIRRHOE 
Little my joy when health allots heart-sickness* 

EURUPULOS 
O sister, fcnewst thou strength, sorrow were strange. 

KALLIRRHOE 
Thoti, too, wouldst have me die ttnjttstly, brother? 

EURUPULOS 
Far from my will such thought, Kallirrhoe; 
Yet, sister, would this day had never dawned. 
Ere thou and I and all we love in one 
Swift stroke of common fate had left the light. 

KORESOS 
Hast thou, a brother, not before this hour 
Revealed to her, thy sister, thy disease ? 

EURUPULOS 
She knoweth all. For, teU me, Koresos, 
What woman lovely in the eyes of men 
Lifts clear brow and most innocent of ill 
Knows not the spell she casts about the sense? 
And equally no woman but divines 
The kindred power in another^s beauty. 
Had I ne^er spoken (as no brother heart 
Would grant), she would have read my secret passion, 
Caught it and phrased it to my startled ears 



Kallirrftoe js 

And sent it speeding one hot eagerness 

Tlirowgh all my frame. Tr tist thou a woman^s guess. 

"W^ell knoweth she my love for fair Aglaia^ — 

Aglaia glad in me and ready so 

To die for her, my sister and her mistress. 

What though she be low-born and Agrios, 

Her father kept the hillside flecked with flock 

And pressed the oozy dugs and sent the curd 

To princely tables ? "What though thus ignobly 

A toiler with hard hands he wrought long years ? 

As from dark earth blossoms the purest lily 

And from the pool the lotus radiant, 

So issued she — a glory of no pride. 

Hers is the loveliness a god would woo ; 

High-dowered, beauteous, and rare with graces 

Forgotten through the jealousy of fates. 

Who give their gifts that men may worship them, 

Not love too well the gifted lest the bale 

Of smitten mind disturb the might of kings. 

As, in the days of old, fair Leda's child 

Waving her wayward tresses gold against 

Golden Apollo, made distraught huge Theseus 

Till tremblingly he caught her to his heart 

And bore her off a curse upon the lips 

Of unbelieving men, who, once beholding. 

Smothered their oaths and prayed she ga2e their way I 

Then, be her stock obscure, yet gentleness 

Never knew welcome in a breast more high. 

What better proof of most exalted worth ? 

She leaves her life to give another life. 



16 K^UirrDoe 

CHORDS 
Discretion marks his words who first in rudeness 
Addressed our piotts ears; and why in meekness 
He here appeareth, know I not unless 
The strife of gladly losing one he loveth 
And sadly keeping thus another love 
Hath tired a mad invention unto cahn. 
Nevertheless, foreboding fills my spirit 
Lest in sweet words dark omen of swift fate 
And keen disaster lurk, since silent stands 
Absorbed and hesitant with lucent truth 
Holiest Koresos, Speak, master, speak I 

KORESOS 
Before I speak, confirm me my conjecture : 
Of thee with unuplifted eye I ask, 
Aglaia, but one only word and answer 
Me truly as thou art a woman bom 
Beauteous and perilous to mortal peace* 
Art thou the child of lowly Agrios, 
Herdsman and keeper of meek-moving sheep 
In Kaludon, who, maimed in combat once 
Among yon rugged mountains, limped in flight 
To us, praying for aid ? This would I know. 

AGLAIA 
Thou hast conjectured truly J I am his. 

CHOROS 
Flashing his eyes with sign of godlike fury I 
Nor can I aught discern of his intent. 



Rainrrftoe 57 

KORESOS 

Thou knew^t, then, thou wast a slave bor n, hredf 

And willing still to manifest thyself 

No whit superior to thine origin I 

Here stood Eurupulos a willing aid 

To veil with pleadings dim the face of truth: 

How deep and wide and high and universal 

His love for thee I Here, too, Kallirrhoe 

Stood like a stone, unheeding, deaf, the dread 

And potent oracle of Zeus. Is^t thus 

Ye meant to baffle gods with treachery ? 

Are ye so ignorant as thus to deem 

Bright godhead blind to human cheat and fraud? 

In very truth however tortuous 

The path of guiltiness, yet be ye ware 

Upon the fleeing heel more subtly follow 

The lidless fates with hiss of retribution 

Armed strong, of speed unwearied, hot with hate* 

A curse shall fall upon your unbent heads I 

O Father Zeus, ere suppliant they sink 

Upon their knees I pray thee pity them j 

Forgive their deed, for life is sweet to youth 

And uninstructed in the errant means 

Of sin they wrought this insult to thy power I 

Forgive them. Father Zeus, and hear my prayer. 

( Weeping, he sinks exhausted upon the earth.) 

CHORDS 

He lies on the ground; 
He utters no sound I 



j8__ Raltirrftoe 

"W^hat shall we say ? 
Hither come^ P^^Yf 
Oh gather ye round I 

KALLIRRHOE 
Now he revives and lifts again his head, 
Will I be venturesome and solve my doubt, 

AGLAIA 
Prithee, not harshly on my poor behalf I 
Or life or death, in equal grief henceforth 
I live a slave in deed thus humbled low. 

EURUPULOS 
Oh speak not so, Aglaia» For, as night 
Opposed to purple west rises from sea. 
So sorrow comes from gladness, lighting so 
A thousand stars else ever undescried I 

KALLIRRHOE 
Brother, lead her away that I may seek 
The priest, who glances as w^ith urgent threat. 

{Exeunt EURUPULOS and AGLAIA.) 

KORESOS 
"Whither away? Not yet upon your knees? 

KALLIRRHOE 
Distress thee not that thus they wander forth j 
Since ignorance of wrong is right^s first shield. 



HaltirrDoe J9 

KORESOS 
Thy last word sttiteth well a weak defense* 

KALLIRRHOE 
No woman needs a man to hint her weak 
"When her strong master stoops to sttch a phrase. 

KORESOS 
Enough of words: the day would end ere thou 
Hadst satisfied thy most untoward tongue. 

KALLIRRHOE 
"Why, then, that gaze that bade me stay behind? 

KORESOS 

Kallirrhoe, thou hast as stubborn spirit 
Untamed, unf lexible by holy ways 
As by the softer touch of human love. 

KALLIRRHOE 
Yet tell me, tutored guardian of the gods, 
"Why thou so fervently hast disallowed 
Aglaia die for me ? My tried Aglaia, 
Alone of all my friends found faithful still I 
"What weary days I searched and vainly searched ; 
And at the last when none appeared in aid. 
Came she with timid voice and tearful prayer 
Placing her wan hands to my fevered head 
And whispered as she kneeled beside me there — 
"We both quite silvered in the last moonlight 
Mine eyes seemed destined to behold — ^there clung 



20 K^nirrboe 

And syllabled she meant to give herself 
For me. How I rejoiced in this great gift 
Zeus sent in answer to my love of life I 
"Wherefore I joyed in her, wherefore in life, 
None save all-seeing Zeus can ever know, — 
Since dimness is the dawn of womanhood, 
Wearing her mystery invisibly 
A crown secure against who dares aspire. 
Now have I done. Think not I bend: I stand 
A rock against the waves of circumstance. 
Asking their hungry violence no peace. 
Yet ere I go, again I pray thee tell 
How that Aglaia may not die for me ? 

KORESOS 
Thou knowest but too well the fatal fault. 

KALLIRRHOE 
Fatal at least : but fault I cannot grant. 

KORESOS 
Both : since it counsels thee prepare thyself 
To die and charges insolence to Zeus. 

KALLIRRHOE 
How? Insolence I W^herein so grave a charge? 

KORESOS 
In that the oracle demanded clearly 
That who should die vicarious for thee 
Must be thy peer. 



KalllrrDoe 2j 

KALLIRRHOE 
Is not^ then, this fulfilled ? 

KORESOS 
A slave for thee, a maid of royal blood ? 

KALLIRRHOE 
And wherefore not? O Koresos, declare* 

KORESOS 
When dogs are steeds ; owls, doves ; earth, air ; sea, sky ; 
Then may a slave to lowest of the free 
Be peer: e^en then remote from him in worth. 

KALLIRRHOE 
O Koresos, a life for life is just. 

KORESOS 
No priest dares offer victims with one blot I 

KALLIRRHOE 
Blot may be whiteness to the eyes of gods I 

KORESOS 
Think not they lean with such a patient eye : 
"With chill austerity severe they rule. 
Such insult to the god we would appease, 
Would stir a greater plague than Kaludon 
Hath yet endured. Speak, then, no idle word. 



21 K^iurrftoe 

KALLIRRHOE 

Thcn^ Korcsos^ look thott upon me well* 
This is the sacrifice thy hidden thought 
Demands* If I dared loose my tongue this hour 
In utterance, I could enlighten all. 
See that thou keen the sacrificial blade 
Till I bring me enrobed and filled with all 
True bravery of soul that I may die. 
Though I be woman, with no tear save red* 
That me thou wouldst sublime in peerless death^ 
Allowing none may die that I may live, 
Not flatters me : a barren, foolish truth 1 

KORESOS 

And wherefore foolish if a truth ? 

KALLIRRHOE 

Device 
Of their own gain makes wise the meanest fools* 

KORESQS 
Dark are thy words. 

KALLIRRHOE 

That I spake lucent terror I 
The hand of man, not Zeus, created slaves. 
Cold kings and priests august, the strong of earth 
Must find a mode to save their hands from stain, 
Writing a deeper on their sordid hearts* 



Hailirrftoe 23 

KORESOS 
Wotildst thou so think, were not thy life at stake? 

KALLIRRHOE 
Would I were cf tiel, — so to answer thee ; 
But I beseech thee ere I deck myself 
In ritwal of plagtte-atoning death 
The last time for the roving eyes of ivho 
Will come in witness of a rtfde deceit, 
Confirm me of sincerity and rttth 
In this thy reading of the oracle. 

KORESOS 
One moment ere the sacrificial knife 
Reaves thee of life, I shall declare : nor else. 

KALLIRRHOE 
I go. 

KORESOS {as she moves away) 
How my soul follows in her way I 
Scarce can I stay my voice from utterance 
Of her blest name. ^^Kallirrhoe I ** I fain 
"Would call, to bid her yet retrace her step. ♦ ♦ 
Now Zeus be praised for hate I From my soul's de^ 
I hate her, seeing she hath made me love I 

CHOROS 

Strophe A 

FuU of sorrow and of cares 
"Weary he passed ? 



24 K^llirrftoe 

On his bf ow no crown he wears 
Thottgh a king of men he be^ 
Heavy-hearted as the se% 

Leaving at last 
Mirth and joy of earth, soul free. 

Strophe B 

And darknesss lieth beyond the breath 
Last drawn as hence man hasteneth. 

Who hath pierced the gloom of the tomb ? 

Who hath brought relief to low grief ? 
As leaves in autumn fall dead 
And parent tree overhead 
Knoweth them nevermore, 
Like unto autumn^s store, 

Fruit and the garlands of spring. 
We fade away, in a moment decay. 

Tainted, a filthy thing I 

Strophe C 
Shall we sorrow and, sorrowing, double woe 
Or be glad and in gladness lightly go 
Over wastes of despair where she spreads her snare 
Woven of thought and of care? 

Antistrophe A 

Why a godhead, if no aid 

Answer worn knees ? 
Hide the brow in ivy shade. 
Droop the eye with vinous drowse, 
Qang the cymbals in carouse 



Kallirrftoe 25 

Doubly with glees^ — 
lakchos^ joctmd raid I 

Antistrophe B 
The gods in bidding mankind endure 
Allow no bane but hides a cure, 

Ariadne cried to the tide 

As her Theseus dead to her fled : 
The swept wave, deaf to appeal. 
Responded naught as the keel 
Arrogant spurned vain Crete, 
Turned, she saw at her feet, 

Tall in no glory of earth. 
Brighter than star with white Artemis far. 

Dread Dionusos in mirth I 

Antistrophe C 
He requited with love her questioning grief, 
To a woman bereft a god gave relief: 
Shall a priest be abandoned who dedicates 
Life and on godhead waits ? 

Epodos 
"Where lies, O Eros, thy kindliness ? 
Thus to destroy a priest. 
Thus to mock the just, to consume the true 
By deep-sown fire of a human eye I 
Blaspheme I never, rather bless 
Thy potent will and deity. 
Yet on my master at least 
Thou hast brought the dubious gift of rue. 



26 K^liirrftoe 

{Enter KORESOS slowly.) 

CHORDS 
What thottghts arc tliinc^ O Kofesos^ our lord, 
That ever ■with the earth thoti hast discourse 
And never upward to the air art -won? 

KORESOS 
'Tis that I question earth to answer me, 
And finding still reply unwritten where 
I seek, yet gaze on emptiness as dreaming. 

CHOROS 
Surely the load upon thine age is grown 
Too grave to w^ear ; youth were a fitter time. 

KORESOS 
Thou speakcst, then, of her whom young in years 
I loved, still love, and shall not cease to love? 

CHOROS 
Strange that thy wisdom and ripe mastery 
Of humors kin to vigorous prime submit 
Their strength unto a scorning maiden. Royal 
I grant her with unsullied blood of sires 
Endued and with the valid victories 
Of perished generations beautiful ; 
Nathless, what gainest thou — advanced from bloom 
Of youth, from springtime of man^s passioning. 
From the first fine delirium of vein, 
From freshness and the thrilling zest of mom 



HallfrrDoe 27 

(What mom clear yotith awakes to manhood's mist) ? 
Canst thou without the tinct regret at folly- 
Hide blossom of thy plucking in her hair ? 
Or wage enf readied warfare widely sweet 
Upon her cheek ? Cling lip and interlock 
Fond fingers ? Think thou on this vainness, judge 
Thyself if not most mad and ill-advised 
Too late thy wooing show most indecorous, 

KORESOS 
Oh say not so 1 Too well I know her hate 
That settled strong as destiny hath blasted 
My hope and long desire of life and bliss. 
Methinks the very temple-stones one day 
In witness of my truth must far proclaim 
Their knowledge of my knees bent low to Zeus 
Remedial. But all is past : so pass 
Much cherished dreams whence we awake to earth 
From lands incredible beyond our ken. 
Pity for her inhabiteth my heart, 
Yet Dionusos spake and Dionusos 
Shall be obeyed if no free-bom present 
The price : in death vicarious to die. 
Aye, even as I speak, hither she moves. 

[As KALLIRRHOE enters) 
"What means thy garb of cheer, Kallirrhoe, 
Thy loosened hair, these arms outspread, this gait 
As if the festal timbrel taught thy step 
Obedience to its call ? No festival 
Is here, but sombre rite of formal death 



28 Rallirrftoe 

On thee decreed^ not lacking piety 

Of yonder holy knife and my true hand 

Swift to stttTender thee unto out god^ 

"Who to allay rough crest and ceaseless wave 

Of loss demands the princely price of thee* 

KALLIRRHOE 
No ill-conjectttred method in my robe^ 
O priest, — if still thott ponder and not once ; 
On failure, yield the answer aye unanswered. 
And lest thou fail to read, mine enterprise 
Be here to teach* What I shall the victim wail 
Against the god's decree interpreted 
In mode of grace by comely deputy ? 
That were to rail on fate, blaspheme the just, 
Assume the heifer's brute appeal from pain. 
For here, devout, our master Koresos 
Tells Kaludon to kill a princess, prize 
At word, as asked by dying citizens ; 
New irony of power that subjects' cry 
Demands and wins the faU of nobler state I 
When died a god for man, to found such justice ? 
So am I come in all obedience. 
Ripe for the happy god, one soul the more, 
One grape starved Dionusos crunches thus 
To burnish the sleek brow one red the more 
And fling Persephone the corporal husk I 
How I wilt thou charge me sacrilegious now, 
Because I count most vain enervate incense. 
And vain your shrieking beasts w^ith taunt of wreath 
Encircling their decorous innocence ? 



K^llirrDoe 29 

KORESOS 
Cease, on thy life I 

KALLIRRHOE 
Thou shalt hear all. 

KORESOS 

Insult 
Not Dionusos. Though thou spurn the man 
Of me^ bethink thee that on this my brow 
The dreadful choice of priesthood sits enthroned^ 
The which thus rashly and in wrath to vex 
Shall bring more horror than mere loss of breath I 

KALLIRRHOE 
Of all I have bethought me and — ^I speak* 

KORESOS 
Better were peace and good than sin and death. 

KALLIRRHOE 
A weak word, priest I For though I speak a sin 
In tonguing here my hot soul, I am true. 

KORESOS 
"Woe, woe I thy shroud is sin and taints thy white. 

KALLIRRHOE 
Then, as a king begat, queen bare me, I 
Scorning degree, control, and niggard truth 
"Within the meditated phrase, entreat 



30 K^llirrftoe 

Thcc, Lord of all the wof Id^ O Zetts, be kind I 
And if I sin^ inspire a grand sin now I 

KORESOS 
Again before tbe god of Kaludon 
In awful fear I warn thee, curb thy tongue I 

CHOROS 
He speaks intending favor; timely heed; 
Allow I join entreaty for thy good* 

KALLIRRHOE 
Away I I reck not longer, but declare 
My heart that, ere it burst to sanguine bloom 
Upon the blade, pierces for utterance 
My breast intact. By all the gods in heaven, 
You never loved me, Koresos, but still 
"Within thyself held hate of me, designed 
The overthrow of all our house, and scared 
Eurupulos until he proved one night 
"Within the sacred grove his righteous arm 
Upon thy crippled form I 

KORESOS 
^Tis false, I — 

KALLIRRHOE 

Nay, 
Attend I I will not scant a syllable. 
And then thou didst devise how that by love 
And craft thou mightst deceive and vanquish him 



Kallirrftoe 3£ 

By snaring me unto thine arms ; but spumed 
And loathed by me, acute to pierce and keen 
To cut thy covetous conceits, recourse 
"Was thine to Dionusos and Dodona, 
Nay, hear me home I Thou hast my latest word. 
"What heed the gods the hand, so up to them 
Twine sweet submissive scent and savors thick ? 
But thee I know from thy shrunk foot's w^eak print 
E'en to the chill of thy foul-scheming heart, — 
A plausive priest, a most corrupt impostor I 

KORESOS 

Now may the gods — but seize her, bind her arms I 
And may — 

KALLIRRHOE 
Thy curse upon thine own life fall. 
And mayst thou live among men tedious days. 
Ceaseless increasing thine infirmities 
From hour to hour until thy sorrows bow^ 
Thee down a living corse close to the earth 
To make thee show a cringer to the ground 
As now to gods and men. And when the end 
Befalls, with blasted eyeballs, impotent 
And fain to speak thy woe, with palsied tongue 
And still more withered shape than this thy case. 
Alone, unloved of men, a sport of gods 
Then ware of thee, reviled and outcast mayst 
Thou die in misery, unburied lie 
In wildered waste of earth where human hand 



32 Hallfrrftoe 

May never strew a piotts dtist-grain o'er 

Thy "wretched flesh. May rapine birds too vilc^ 

Too sick for honest carrion, draw near 

And pick thee piece from rotting piece that there 

Qtiite peered in wretchedness with merit here, 

Though formless, spared in not one ache the less, 

But in each several lif led part of thee 

A realm of woe, endlessly mayst thou shriek 

In ghastly music through the dawnless night. 

Haunting the hollow spaces of the air. 

Hearing no answer but reverberate pain 

Leaping thy scattered lips remote from Zeus I 

CHORDS 

He swoons I attendants, hoi . ♦ ♦ Lead her within* 

[Exeunt all save CHOROS.) 

CHORDS 

Strophe A 
Wherever upon the ways of the earth 
Man moves, he moves not alone; 
But attendant, invisible, two 
Hover: one is woe and the other is mirth; 
One smarting a smile with rue 
And one to cheer every moan. 
And which, when they battle, shall win or lose, 
Seems never a man's to choose. 
No more than to bid the sun arise 
Or hang the thick clouds from the skies. 



Kallirrboe 33 

Strophe B 

Many degrees of sight Zeus gave 
And he taught us to ga^e and be glad; 
He laughs with our joy and is cahn at ouf grief ; 
He looks with no pity and sends no relief 
For he heaps with distresses the sad^ 
Sinners of choice whom no prayers can save 
"When they read awry. 
E'en to kings and high 
Of the world when they cry 
He deafens his ear^ 

Placid with power, unmoved as a flower 
His face regarding man's fear. 

Strophe C 
For he taught us the right, 
Not his the blame 

If the better eye miss and betray : 
The king sees wide and discovers the same 
Vith a god's wing-traveling sight ; 
And the slave is least, 
For he toils, is a beast — 
For defect to the gods, and to man for play* 

Antistrophe A 

If, then, the strictest of eyes, and of ears 
The finest leaned to the prayer 

And in justice noted and made 
Answer, Koresos may be heedless of fears 

And slay with a cheerful blade. 



34 H^llirrDoe 

Not quake as, oozing through hair, 
The rich life gives the ransoming seal: 
Since, one destroyed shall a thousand heal. 
The next grey dawn are no mourners seen : 
Fair Kaludon awakes and is dean* 

Antistrophe B 

Lofty however a mortal be 
And a boast to the land of his race, 

The gods but command him, no mercy is theirs j 
Their- faces are alien, devoid of cares. 
Their spirits unclouded. What grace 
Owe they to us? They would never decree 
Even to their own 
Sons of earth, sky-sown, 
Incorruptive bone. 
Eye proof against night. 

Sinews of steel that can mock the deal 
Of discovering dart in the fight. 

Antistrophe C 

Dionusos brought low 
"W"ith swift disease ; 

And almighty Zeus to the loud despair 
Sent peace in pafl to bid from these 
No more than Kallirrhoe go : 
More solicitous 
Or more just to us 
There was never god o'er the vaulted air. 



Rallirrftoe 35 

Enter EURUPULOS 

Tcfl me^ O men^ delay me not, with speed 
Resolve me — Koresos — is he within? 

CHORDS 

Not doubtfully thy question bears its answer J 
But, in thy turn, say wherefore pallid cheek, 
Breath-interrupted phrases, hurried eyes? 

EURUPULOS 

I fain would learn the deed, whether performed 
Or haply unaccomplished yet and waiting. 
If I might enter — 

CHOROS 

No impiety I 
By Dionusos, who would stay the knife. 
May he ignobly perish. Hold, no further 
Advance lest thunder and insanity 
Strike palsy through thine every vein and harrow 
And shrivel thy man's vigor into naught* 

EURUPULOS 

Hark ye I so many marvels throng to loose 

Themselves articulate, yet credible 

To none, I needs must pause which to propose. 

Briefly, Melanios the King hath passed 

To me the scepter. 



36 K^llirrDoe 

CHOROS 

How? What favor hast 
Thou found, to be prcf erred before his end? 

EURUPULOS 
He IS no more. 

CHOROS 
What means this woi'd? Oh speak 1 

EURUPULOS 
Shall I repeat ? He is no more. He breathes 
Never again the breath of life, but now 
Awaits the journey ever at the ebb 
Until due rites be paid. 

CHOROS 
Oh heavy news I 
The manner of fiis end ? 

EURUPULOS 
I would relate 
Were I but more immediate to aid 
KalIirrhoe« I cannot speak and think 
She dies an arm-stretch whence I stand* 

CHOROS 

Defer 
Thy cares to fate ; how meetly may the earth 
Be ordered, 'tis divine solicitude. 



KiilHrrDoe 37 

EURUPULOS 
Kno^w, then, as I f ettjmed Aglaia hence, 
To me swift-footing o^er the mead there posted 
A messenger who urged a further speed, 
How that the king grew wan with fading breath. 
Alarmed, I hastened -where he sat amid 
Ignorant and too willing ministrants. 
For one would soothe his brow^, another loose 
His robe, and still another cried him air. 
Until I came and swept them with my hand 
Away and backward from his struggling breast. 
He seemed to sink beneath a load on ^s heart. 
At every effort weaker coping, while. 
Dumb and imploring gods to ease his pain, 
We stood admiring his so godlike death. 
His temples throbbed with stroke and throe of vein, 
His eye stood fixed, his regal lips did quaver 
Like aging leaves at autumn's first fierce blast; 
Or, like scared soldiers in a first assault, — 
And fitly, too, whose master save that hour 
Knew illness never. But when I perceived 
Behind me where the slaves stood all a-weeping. 
Ill-omened beat of breast and hair shook horrid 
From head, terror crept to my trembling foot 
And crawled snake-Hke, increasing length and upward 
Behind me, traveled on, and when it reached 
My brain, it stung me hot, it maddened me; 
I heard Melanios cry ^*How dark it grows I ** 
And, trying eyes, I felt myself drop earthward 
Like some struck bird. How long I lay were idle 



38 H^llirrDce 

To estimate J but I awoke to strains 
Of sudden mtfsic with an echoed beauty, 
Which flattered with ^^Hail, King Eurupulos I ** 
"While yon before me on his wonted couch, 
Melanios outstretched lay white and dead. 

CHORDS 
Strange sorrow, bearing bahn in spite of tears 1 

EURUPULOS 
What balm, O friends, if greater grief be here ? 

CHOROS 
What grief, Eurupulos, obeying gods ? 

EURUPULOS 
Obedience is good, but who may know 
The pleasure of the distant-dwelling gods? 

CHOROS 

Not far they dwell, inspiring present fears 
And constant apprehension in men's deeds. 

EURUPULOS 
My sister, mate with me, our mother's child. 
To die so rudely I 

CHOROS 

Think thou whom to save. 

EURUPULOS 
What consolation to support a brother? 



Kalllrrftoe 39 

CHOROS 
What I thou a king and speak these vulgar words ? 
Better thott ne^er knewst sovereignty on earth 
Than live so far from heaven thtjs hard to brook 
A private loss when one death means a kingdom 
Preserved and hailing thee successive king 1 
Take spirit of the gods^ tranquillity, 
Immunity from aches and moans of men ; 
Live the large life becoming kingly sway ; 
Bind not thy youthful soul subservient 
To cares ; hold high thy crown^s authority ; 
Keep thou thy rescued love, whom, though a slave, 
Ennobled in thy choice, may Zeus increase 
"With largess of strong heirs and happy days, 
That when thou, grey, shalt hand thy scepter on, 
Pure Kaludon may rise to thee one wide 
And vivid blessing, sound, imperishable. 
But, soft I not far a nearing footstep draws 
More near. 

Enter ATTENDANT 
Am I not changed in spirit, voice, 
Gait, all that goes before throughout my years 
I passed me ? Whom address I? For, methinks, 
A man made god, or god made mortal first 
Should hear my story lest the burden top 
In marvel the less marvel of such change, 

EURUPULOS 
I bid thee speak : a king attends this frenzy. 



40 H^llirrftoe 

ATTENDANT 
Thou biddest with the smooth command of right. 

CHORDS 
And rightly so : for know^ who ruled one hour 
Ago^ is dead^ — ^Melanios, 

ATTENDANT 
Behold 
My coldness I Naught can move me now except 
Some never dreamed and never acted wonder. 

EURUPULOS 
And yet thou stayest when^ aware of worst, 
"We list thy petty tale of tragedy : 
The victim^s blood is spilled and Koresos 
In shame at muted beauty, hides. Not so? 

ATTENDANT 
Hides verily, for where his being keeps 
Zeus knows. 

CHOROS 
I glean with empty hand. 

EURUPULOS 

Aye, Zeus : 
For Zeus can penetrate the blindest flesh 
And scare the lurking shame I 



Rallirrftoe u 

ATTENDANT 

His body holds 
No shame if benefit to Kalttdon 
Be other. 

EURUPULOS 
Practise caution, youth, feed not 
The willing ire of dread and dauntless kings 
That touch, therein devouring their affects, 
Since sorrow oft devises tragic issues, 

ATTENDANT 
Thou canst not brave me, high Eurupulos, 
I am a messenger from holier haunt 
Than ever royal throne hath graced. 

EURUPULOS 

Thou slave I 
Deal with me openly or die this hour! 

ATTENDANT 
I mean not ill to whisper entrance thus 
Into thine unsuspecting and else startled 
Ears^ yet, so please thy will, call Koresos. 

CHOROS 
I fail to gather his intent. 

EURUPULOS 
He tempts 
Me with his trickery of tongue. 



42 K^lllrrftoe 

ATTENDANT 

Call^ priest^ — 
He will be deaf to thy command, great king I 
Aye, wert thou nearer than a king, — his friend, 
Entreaty were alike most impotent* 
Nor that in obstinate adherence fixed 
Upon his god, he willed a deafened ear, 
But that he nevermore may hear thy voice. 
Since cold, kissing the temple's cold, he lies 
Before Kallirrhoe I 

EURUPULOS 
Conduct us further : 
Some mystery half-scented goads conceit* 

ATTENDANT 

king and fellow-priests of Dionusos, 
The gods have chosen a weak tongue in me 
To publish you my legend, for I press 

My fingers, weakening more and more to hide 
This world, and as I look again, doubt more. 
Hence unrelieved, I know not whither best 

1 go for counsel in my pain save that 
If here to you I may release it free. 

It may, in sharing, lose some poignancy 

As oft as memory shall entertain 

Its visitant surprise until I die. 

For, as into the sacred place she hurried 

Afire with wrath she kindled by her hate, 

A certain pallor spelled the images, 



Ralllrrboe 43 

All saving Dionusos who grew flushed 

And turned ambiguous black and purpled o'er 

As grapes in sunlight just at harvest-time* 

In midst of weirdest portents of the gods, 

The advent of moved Koresos amazed 

Us more; for though the white of swoon overcast 

His countenance, we had not so awaited 

The ghostly stare and tremble of his hands. 

He seemed some child in shame confessing fault, 

And not a priest of god at sacrifice: — 

Solemnly slow with force deliberate 

Touching the fillet for the only time 

And thence denouncing from this air the victim. 

Nay, there he stood ; a moment faced her, dumb; 

Convulsively he stole the knife I offered. 

Bade her uncover bosom to the blow. 

Himation and tunic loosed, descended. 

And hung from the confining zone. Thereat 

Or punishment from heaven or frenzy swift 

At finding her so beauteous, thrilled his spirit ; 

Else, O ye gods, pronounce why then he rushed 

To her and with one wild, despairing cry, 

^*KallirrhoeI '* plunging his dagger, drunk 

To hilt within his own breast, fell a heap 

With stream of dying kisses marking aye 

Departing life, prone at her kirtle's edge* 

At this distraught, a cloud bedimmed mine eyes; 

I heard the smothered lamentations beat 

Mine ears; I woke; I gained the door; one glance 

Behind I threw, and lo I where lay the maiden 



44 KallirrDoe 

Kissing with lovers dew those so long parched lips 
As if to win them answer and their bloom. 

EURUPULOS 
Now all the gods so prosper me as now 
In grateftilness of heart I honor them I 

CHOROS 
Speak no ill-omened word. The gods are skilled 
To blight his reign who tatinteth chance untoward I 

EURUPULOS 
I need not counsel. . . . Thee^ I mean, aye, thee 
Who barest message suiting royal ear, 
Command my bounty. Yet, assure me well, — 
"Why tarries thus my sister o*er a corse 
Erst hated, now so pitied, — ^woman's way ? 
Go thou to her. Instant attendance here 
Tell her the king demands, so shall she learn 
A double joy to lodge, dead Koresos 
And King Eurupulos. What I not returned ? 

{Exit ATTENDANT.) 

CHOROS 

Strophe 

Woe, woe I for a master departed I weep I 
O Kaludon, surely this fate 

Is beyond thee to bear and esteem, 

A calamitous loss, if I seem 
To measure his height to the state I 



Hallirrftoe 45 

"W^oe^ woe I I will hide me and deep 
In my grief I shall waste qttite away, 
Not a tear will I spare night or day, 

Antistrophe 

In veriest prophecy, seeing, I cry : 
No good shall descend on a king 

Who at hate is cheered and is crowned 
With no circlet of bay but hath botind 
On his brow double death that shall sting, 
Envenom, and drive to insidious vanity. 
Till the jealous gods visit with scourge 
And its pitiless beat of red surge* 

(Enter KA LLIRRHOE slowly. ) 

EURUPULOS 
{ToCHOROS:) 

Ye might affright me, if I recked your omens* 
I hear, yet scorn them as I scorned your lord, 
Bending me as occasion hinted prudence I 

{ToKALLIRRHOE:) 

See where she moves restored I Kallirrhoe, 
Dear sister, hail I happy on whom the curse. 
So strangely lighted, is more strangely lifted, 
That thou mayst live to choose thee peace and rest, 
Adored a princess peerless through the realm. 
What I hast thou naught for me? 



46 K^iurrftoe 

CHORDS 

She raises lid 
And ga^es with no wonted pride and fire. 

EURUPULOS 
Ah^ have they whispered how Melanios 
Is dead and I — nay, pardon that I cause 
Thy tears ; methinks I, too^ at hearing this^ 
Slighted no whit my heart. Weep for the king 
And then rejoice in him whom death exalts. 
E'en me^ thy brother, sister! me, thy brother I . . 
How now — no word? Art dumb? Is't possible 
That I, thy brother, kin and close to thee, 
That I, thy king, thy lord, before all eyes 
Speak and receive no answer ? Art thou mad ? 
Perchance dead Koresos — 

KALLIRRHOE 

Not that name, brother, 
I charge thee, but in all the earth what else 
May please thee, utter. 

EURUPULOS 

What distraction here ? 
I know what thou art overdelicate 
To make prohibited mine ears : ** Not strange 
He took his life so long due heaven I ** 

KALLIRRHOE 

Brother I 
What word hath leaped untimely here to birth ? 



EURUPULOS 
Hast fhoxi not ere tfiis^ sister^ wished him ill, 
And for his fuin summoned every god 
Thy heart knew and thy tongue could name ? 

KALLIRRHOE 

How true 
And wise thy words, O brother I 

EURUPULOS 

Wherein wise 
And true but erst unworthy one reply ? 

KALLIRRHOE 
There was a god, Eurupulos, whose name 
To me familiar by once hated tongue 
Was yet essential stranger. 

EURUPULOS 
"Whose, I pray? 

KALLIRRHOE 
Him had I prayed and called in curse on life, 
The priest could not have more effectual 
Fallen beneath the blow than now he fell, 
Turning the moment's boon to lifelong bane. 

CHOROS 
Dark words as ever veil her darker thought. 



48 K^llirrftoe 

KALLIRRHOE 

Know^st not the god who late instmcted thee 
The eloquence of beauty and dcsife. 
Lilt of Aglaia^s name, to call her fair ? 

EURUPULOS 

Sister I remind mc not in mockery I 

Link not my love with thine ill-omened hate I 

KALLIRRHOE 

I mock not now, Eurupulos, I am 
Not as I was, but in his death I know 
He loved me and I live to die for him, 

EURUPULOS 

What frenzy insupportable transports 
Thy senses, sister ? Art thou credulous 
In folly that he died to save thy life? 
Away I enrage me not I Believe not so. 
How? Hath thy woman's heart so soon conceded 
Superb esteem of him and touch of greatness 
Where late thou f oundest but a low intent ? 
List to me, sister I Grieve for him no more. 
Impute not virtue ever lived in him 
Whenas he lies in death, deserving so 
Compassion, Such, no other, is the weakness 
The dead ask. Die for thee I Recount his crime; 
Think on his deeds ; intriguing for this throne ; 
Intriguing for thy body, as thou oft 



HallirrDoe 49 

Hast owned to mc in secrecy ; and picture — 
Not difficult — the plague from heaven he called j 
Behold the incense of their putrid pyres 
Arising as to him in godhead raised 
Thereby, through the compliance of his god* 
Thinkst thou no sleepless nights were his as out 
He ga^ed and saw his pestilential power? 
Thinkst thou he constant smiled thereat complacent 
And never imaged ruin haunted him? 
Thinkst thou that when he raised his eyes this mom^ 
No joy was his at death of thee who thus 
Marked pluming of his will? And then when he 
Beheld thee standing beauteous before 
The knif e, thinkst thou thy loveliness restrained 
Him, mercy melted at the pitch delight? 
Nay I there were sudden voices in his ears 
And all the dead, unburied save by heap 
On heap of their staled usefulness, aye, all 
Appeared that moment, raving by compact, 
That when he seemed triumphant most, then least 
Might power be his to strike aught but himself* 
They came with bodies hungry for the earth; 
These masks of murder palsied further boast. 
Forbade more immolation, leered, and swore 
To throttle with a million ready fingers 
Invisibly that human lie and curse I 

CHORDS 
O King Eurupulos, if this be false. 
The gods will merciless abide the deed! 



^ H^llirrftoe 

KALLIRRHOE 

Brother^ thou shaft this once and nevermore 

Again behold my face. I shall be brief. 

I know that Koresos was pure as light 

The gold mom pottrs with lavish artlessness 

Above the earth. I knew not ere yon moment 

The meaning and the winged wonder men 

Call love. I thought it something soft^ to nestle 

Like smoothness of a bird's down 'gainst the cheek, 

To charm with ever-changing strangenesses, 

Htmt heart with fierce desire to thrall the other, 

And ever in consummate blessedness 

A feverish, sttspecting jealousy 

At time, friends, joy, or grief unshared and known» 

It is not so, and I am rapt beyond 

Mere words, a part in reahns I ne'er descried — 

CHORDS 
Look to the king, attendants, where he sways 1 

KALLIRRHOE 

Sustained there, bathed in gentler, alien air. 
All else, ennobled from the inmost heart 
Of being and transmuted from the sense 
And movement of my daily ease to issue 
More rare from calm to higher calm, as eagles 
Must mount, or men might were their oceans piled 
Enmassed one on the other, calmest highest. 
And in the sailless craft of contemplation 



Hallirrboe st 

Ride quite stjpr eme^ the wide eyes luster ed wider I 

Aye, as among tts mortal men, devising 

Iti lands or residence vicissitudes, 

Until so settled is our latest state 

And blotted out the past one, that we fail 

To image how all stood before the change. 

So in my soul, late residence of hate — 

CHOROS 
Kallirrhoel Thy brother I Look on him I 

KALLIRRHOE 

The sum of former days is as a dream 

No sooner dreamed than dead, despite the strength 

Of its phantasmal truth. And thus my life 

Moves on in melody and beat of love* 

And I believe he waits beyond the bourn 

And stays his hands (assailing not the gods 

"With his impatience) from too eager reach 

To me. Oh what a thought I oh what a god 

To treasure soul in poise, to bring me balm 

Amid severest service ! If not true, — 

Ah, Zeus be praised, I have been happy once I 

CHOROS 

Kallirrhoe I Thy brother I Look on him 1 

Seest not how he hath heard but half thy dreaming'? 

Art thou so frantic? Hast no pious tears? 



52 K^llirrftoe 

KALLIRRHOE 
The gods Iiave judged : and happy are the dead 
Who die unspotted deaths after sttch lives. 
Attendants, follow. Bear the bodies hence. 

{Exit KALLIRRHOE followed by ATTEND- 
ANTS bearing the bodies of EUR UP UL OS and 
KORESOS.) 

CHOROS 

Strange is death : 

Eqttally here they lie, 

Prince and priest, 

Less than living, one with buried, least. 

Ah, not so: for they go. 

That, so gloried here, with black-stained brow ? 

This, uncrowned in life, love-hallowed now I 

Muteness, a song, sob, sigh, — 

Such is breath. 



THE END. 



